LBUSD graduating seniors earn a record amount of college scholarships

LONG BEACH - Seniors graduating in the Long Beach Unified School District earned a record $52.58 million in college scholarships this year, officials announced Tuesday.

Graduation ceremonies for the LBUSD kicked off last week with the California Academy of Mathematics and Science and will conclude Thursday with Millikan High.

The total scholarship amount for the class of 2012 is about $1.1 million more than the previous record set in 2010. Scholarship money for the LBUSD has jumped by nearly 200 percent since 2007.

Poly High School came out on top with $18.1 million in scholarships, setting a record for the school. Awards included a $237,000 scholarship to Duke; $231,220 to Notre Dame; $231,504 to USC; $229,280 to Bowdoin; $176,000 to MIT; and $177,600 to Harvard.

California Academy of Mathematics and Science students earned $9 million in scholarships. Students were admitted to schools including MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Columbia, UC Berkeley and UCLA.

Wilson High School students earned $7 million, including a $180,000 Naval ROTC award, a $208,000 scholarship to USC and $130,000 to UC Berkeley.

Lakewood High School students earned $6.5 million. School acceptances included UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC Irvine.

Millikan High School students earned $5.5 million and admission into schools including Boston College, NYU and Penn State.

Cabrillo High School students earned $3.4 million and admission into schools, including UC Berkeley, UCLA and Cal State Long Beach.

Jordan High School students earned $1.2 million including scholarships from the Gates Millennium Foundation, Cal State Long Beach, and the Dream Act scholarship fund.

Avalon High School students earned $1.2 million and admission into schools such as UCLA, UC Berkeley and Cal State Long Beach.

Renaissance High School for the Arts students earned $288,000, including scholarships from Cal State Long Beach, Vanguard University and the Long Beach Bar Association. Educational Partnership High School students earned $31,190.